With travel agencies opening for the first day after Christmas traditionally, today, begins the big booking period for summer holidays. Its cold across most of the country but dry on the whole and it will be bright.Why the weather forecast?Generally if it is raining, snowing or the weather is miserable then summer holiday bookings increase. [...]

Pantos will be full to bursting this season say the theatres. It’s their time of the year when a good panto will help them ride out the next eleven months till the next one arrives (and my two local theatres have already told me what the pantos will be for 2009/10!)I’be been a fan for [...]

An extensive travel guide of what to do and what to see for your next visit to Malaysia!

With AirAsia X offering a recession busting £99 fare from London to Kuala Lumpur, it’s time to make Malaysia your ticket to ride…

Scenic spots, beaches, sunshine and features from our past are not the only attractions to tourists. Man made events and creations (Disneyworld etc) also attract people to an area.One such was the Brecon Jazz Festival which this year celebrated its silver jubilee. Held each August, this years festival had been hit by the bad weather [...]

On this, the 105th anniversay of the first manned flight by the Wright Brothers, the Competition Commssion (CC), has issued a report (over 107 pages plus appendices) saying these three airports should be sold;- maybe.Why maybe?Because this isn’t the final report. That is due next February/March so I suppose the CC could change its recommendations. [...]

In the words of Corporal Jones, “Don’t Panic.”This isn’t happening over here, this is happening in Newcastle, NSW in Australia.According to the Sydney Morning Herald, from December 13th until January 10th, there will be no air traffic controllers working at this airport which has about 1 million passengers flying through it per year. (that makes [...]

The Advertising Standards Authority has criticised Paddy Power, the Irish based bookmakers from advertising its betting service on which airline would go bust next. And I half sort of agree with the ASA.The problem with betting like this is that it can become a self perpetuating philosophy. If there is a lot of money placed [...]

Forget the UAE. This time around it’s Oman that is stealing the show…

Oman is having a moment. Just ask Peter Greenberg – the award winning travel editor for NBC’s Today Show – who has hailed the Arab state as a hot and affordable (important in these credit crunch times) destination, and one of his own personal favourites. Conde Nast Traveller’s online sibling, www.concierge.com, and Vogue have also dubbed the Sultanate as one of this year’s must visit spots.

I have written about many different aspects of holidays and tourism but this is a first. In Turkey, there is a Univerity of Anadolu. They have a Research Centre for Caricature Art. Now there is a big cartoon collection at the Univerity of Kent but I don’t think they have gone as far as [...]

Safaris and wildlife tourism has an understandable and increasing appeal. Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and South Africa are countries that immediately spring to mind providing evocative holidays in stunning scenery with seemingly abundant wildlife.One country you may not think of is Ethiopia. It has suffered much through famine and internal strife over the years so [...]

Since Eurostar began operating, the demand for flights to Brussels and Paris has decreased. This year 9 million people will travel on Eurostar (less than half of what was estimated they could take) and it has lots of advantages. At least from London, it takes you from the middle of a city straight to [...]

Yet again it is a combination of things rather than one that makes people think about whether they will have a holiday next year.The CBI’s November Service Sector Survey says that travel services companies are less optimistic than they were three months ago and they predict that optimism will decline further. So what’s new? It [...]

There have been a number of high profile collapses this year amongst them XL, Zoom, Online Travel Group and Fitura. The ABTA bonding scheme means that if you book your accommodation and flight together through an ABTA bonded travel agent you are protected. If you book them separately, you aren’t.If you pay for your flight, [...]

As I thumbed through The Lancet last week, that well known medical anti-insomniac relief for non medical types, I read something that kept me awake.
Research at a Harvard University outpost, the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston in USA seems to indicate that this drug may relieve some of the inability to sleep as you [...]

When you’re on holiday, you know that the chances are you will pay a little over the odds for something, the taxi will take the scenic route rather than the shortest and that meal; well what was it you ate? I still have a shapeless, tacky looking hat I bought in Beijing (I can’t remember [...]

There is an odd little story in today’s copy of “Metro.” Apologies if you already have read it.In Switzerland, it appears, there is an alternative to high price holidays and hotel rooms. “Metro” reports that you can stay inside a nuclear bunker for just £6 if you sleep in a bunk or £17 for the [...]

Sydney Opera House is iconic yet it has only been abou 35 years since it was opened. Rarely can a building be recognisable around the world after only a short space of time.It was largely due to one man, the architect Joern Utzon who has just died. It is not how he wanted. The [...]

Collecting someone from terminal 3 at Heathrow over the weekend, I misjudged the traffic and arrived early. To pass the time I thought I’d have a snack so went over to the departures part of terminal 3 where there is a better choice of outlets.Attached to one of the pillars was a sign saying ” [...]

A day-by-day memory of an unforgettable holiday

Sunday
The new day came early and loudly with all the neighbourhood dogs barking loudly and incessantly from well before daylight. Still reeling from yet another sleep-deprived night, breakfast was served and then in no time at all, Rubio was outside with ‘Caballo’ to take us to the derelict prison where Fidel Castro was incarcerated before the revolution. What an eerie place! A hugely grand marble staircase up to the admin block and close by, colonial style houses set in a crescent for the officers.

A day-by-day memory of an unforgettable holiday to Cuba.

MANYANA AND ALL THAT SALSA! A CUBAN TALE

After being “trapped on the runway for seven and a half hours” (Quote: ‘Daily Mirror’ and ‘GMTV’) at Gatwick, garden designers and landscapers Jill and Simon Foxley (www.the-perfumed-garden.co.uk Designer & Contractor of Bronze Medal Winning Small Garden at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2008) with their 14 year old son Tom, travelled independently to the extremities of Cuba. This is the diary Jill kept when it became obvious this was to be no ordinary holiday!